India To Let Rushdie Come Back

Visa Ok Prompts Some Muslims To Threaten Violence

February 05, 1999|By New York Times News Service.

NEW DELHI — Salman Rushdie has been granted a visa to return to India, his native land--where the banning of his novel "The Satanic Verses" began a chain of events that led to death threats by offended Muslims and a life in hiding for a writer with a price on his head.

The decision, made in the highest reaches of the Indian government, was confirmed Thursday by a spokesman for the Ministry of External Affairs and, when announced, prompted immediate threats of violent demonstrations.

"We will protest within a constitutional framework, but I warn the government of India that a righteous follower of the Holy Prophet may make an attempt on Rushdie's life, and each Muslim will be proud of this person," said Syed Ahmad Bukhari, deputy priest of Jama Masjid, the most well-known mosque in new Delhi.

"Rushdie wrote a book that hurt the Muslims of the world," he said. "The painful memories are still in the minds of people. If the government goes ahead with its plans, Muslims will not tolerate this. I appeal to the government to stop it."

Rushdie, who was born in Bombay and lives in Britain with British citizenship, has used India as the inspiration for much of his work. But he repeatedly has been denied a visa since "The Satanic Verses" was published in 1988.

"It's been a long struggle," Rushdie said Thursday in London. "It's a terrible thing to be unable to go to the country of one's birth, and it's been over 10 years, which is certainly the longest gap in my life. It feels like another step back into the light. I've got aunts and uncles and cousins and friends littered all over the country."

This follows a major stride in September, when Iran's foreign minister, Kamal Kharazi, distanced his government from the fatwa, or religious edict, issued by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini in 1989. The Iranian leader, now dead, charged Rushdie with blasphemy and called for his death.

Since Kharazi's statement, other Muslims in Iran and elsewhere have declared that the fatwa cannot be rescinded.

Some groups have added bounties on the author's head that exceed $3 million.

Still, Rushdie had good reason to celebrate.

Late last year, the home minister in India's Hindu nationalist government, Lal Krishna Advani, said he was an admirer of the writer and that "he is welcome to come home."